Yogacharya Bhadrayu Pandya

योगाचार्य भाद्रयु पंड्या Bhadrau Son of Gajendrashankar Lalshanker Pandya and mother Kirtimal, birth at Devagadh bariya, Panchmahal district of Gujarat State ( India ). Had schooling in Surat city, and graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Vadodara. Went to USA for his career, and joined there as computer software job. After comming in the contact of Gurudev Paramhansa Hariharananda, started involving in the practice of KRIYA YOGA. Yogacharya Bhadrayu Pandya lives in Cincinnati, OH, with his wife, Sadhana, and has two children, Rupal and Umil. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering (in India) and an M.S. in Industrial Engineering (USA). He met Baba Hariharananda in 1975 in New York City and began initiating in 1996. He is the leader of the Kriya Yoga Cincinnati center and enjoys serving the Kriya Yoga Institute, guiding meditations, and initiating new students. He travels throughout the USA, particularly the Midwest, teaching Kriya. He has personally experienced profound changes in his life since he began practicing Kriya Yoga and is grateful to support others in making positive changes in their own lives. His up coming schedules of KRIYA YOGA events: Date Event Type Event Acharyas Mar-06 to Mar-09 Initiation Program Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brahmachari Vidyanandaji Yogacharya Bhadrayu Pandya Mar-12 to Mar-16 Initiation Program Sao Paulo, Brazil Brahmachari Vidyanandaji Yogacharya Bhadrayu Pandya Mar-20 to Mar-22 Initiation Program Brasilia, Brazil Brahmachari Vidyanandaji Yogacharya Bhadrayu Pandya Apr-04 to Apr-06 Initiation Program Bogota, Colombia Yogacharya John Thomas Lopategui Yogacharya Bhadrayu Pandya Aug-15 to Aug-21 Initiation Program Barranquilla, Columbia Brahmachari Vidyanandaji Yogacharya Richard Peterson Aug-22 to Aug-24 Initiation Program Bogota, Colombia Paramahamsa Prajnanananda Brahmachari Vidyanandaji Yogacharya Richard Peterson Oct-09 to Oct-11 Intensive Brazil Kriya Yoga Intensive Seminar Paramahamsa Prajnanananda Brahmachari Vidyanandaji Yogacharya Bhadrayu Pandya Oct-12 to Oct-15 Initiation Program Brasilia, Brasil Paramahamsa Prajnanananda Brahmachari Vidyanandaji Yogacharya Bhadrayu Pandya Oct-16 to Oct-19 Initiation Program Sao Paulo, Brazil Brahmachari Vidyanandaji Yogacharya Bhadrayu Pandya Dec-12 to Dec-14 Initiation Program Bogota, Colombia Brahmachari Vidyanandaji Yogacharya John Thomas Lopategui Dec-15 to Dec-21 Initiation Program Armenia, Colombia Brahmachari Vidyanandaji was born in Surat, Gujarat on April 24, 1943. My father's name is Gajendrashanker L. Pandya and that of my mother is Kirtimala G. Pandya. I have one elder brother, and five sisters. They are above the age of 69 and living. My brother Deepak G. Pandya was chief town planner of Gujarat state. He is now retired, but is continuing his work as a consultant in the field of Architecture/Town Planning. My eldest and youngest sisters are house wives. The three sisters in the middle have worked in schools as principals/ teachers. We (my wife, Sadhana and I) have two children - Older daughter was born in 1973 and works for Procter and Gamble company as a marketing specialist. She has bachelor's degree in business and communications, and MBA in marketing. Our son was born in 1978. He is a trauma surgeon. His wife, Aradhi is a physician. They have 11 month old daughter named Raya. My high school education was from Jain high school in Surat. I received B.E. in mechanical engineering, and completed course work (thesis not completed) for the M. E. degree in mechanical engineering from the M. S. university of Baroda. I left for America in September, 1966 for the Masters degree. I received M. S. degree in Industrial engineering from the Wayne State university, Detroit, U.S.A. in April, 1968. I joined St. Regis paper company in the field of Operations Research on September 9, 1968 in New York city. I was transferred to Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A. in March, 1987 when St. Regis Paper Co. was merged into Champion International Paper Co. I left Champion International by the end of August, 2000 when it merged into International Paper Co. I Joined IBM in September, 2000. I retired from IBM on May 30th, 2005 at the age of 63 after the continuous service of 36 years and 5 months. During this time, I received several promotions. The last job title was I.T. Specialist. I did not want, and did not hold managerial position. Until the age of 32, I did not have much idea about meditation and spirituality. In 1975, I read the book "Autobiography Of A Yogi" written by God Realized Master, Paramahamsa Yoganandaji. It had a tremendous impact upon me. It created a strong desire in me for God, and inspired me to seek initiation from a God Realized Master like him. Fortunately, God Realized Master, Paramahamsa Hariharanandaji visited New York in 1978, and he initiated Sadhana and me into the first level of Kriya Yoga. This was a turning point in my life. By his grace, my life began a process of slow but sure transformation, and I was set on the path leading towards ever lasting joy, peace and happiness. I owe to my Gurudev whatever I am to day. Before the age of 32, I had quite a few physical injuries. In 1977, I went through a life threatening sickness which kept me in the hospital for almost one month under constant pain and suffering. I went through the intestinal surgery in the hospital, which took about six months to recover. Until I met my Gurudev in 1978, I was remaining under constant worries, stress and anxieties. I would give credit to my life's problems and my Gurudev's grace for my journey on the path leading towards God realization. After my first kriya initiation in 1978, I received higher kriyas from my Gurudev in the ensuing years. In 1996, he made me Yogacharya in his lineage of Kriya Yoga path. I began teaching Kriya Yoga to the interested people on a limited scale on the weekends (because of my full time job) after 1996. After my retirement in 2005, I have been spending quite a bit of my time travelling within USA, and abroad to the countries like Brazil and Columbia, teaching Kriya Yoga. After working for almost 36 and half years to earn money for me and my family, it was my desire to serve God and my Gurudev in whatever way I can without expecting any monetary gain for my service. My this desire is being fulfilled by the grace of my Gurudev. I must say that it would not have been possible for me to serve God and my Gurudev through this selfless service without the help, support and cooperation from Sadhana. She has not created any impediment to my long meditations everyday. She has always encouraged me to continue to serve God and Gurudev, even though it means long and frequent seperations from me during my travels to various cities for Kriya work. Not only that, but when swamiji visits Cincinnati for Kriya program and stays with us in our house, she works very hard at home along with her full time job, sleeping less hours at night, in order to take care of Swamiji. I owe whatever success I have on my spiritual path to her. My suggestion to anybody who wants to take it, is this. If one wants to quickly travel on the path leading towards ever lasting peace, joy and happiness, and if one wants to become permanently free from the miseries of life, please learn meditation from a God realized Master or from one of his authorized Yogacharyas, and meditate regularly, sincerely with love and devotion everyday. The spiritual path is long and difficult. But, if one wants to be permanently free from the miseries and unhappiness of life, and if he/she meditates sincerely everyday with love and devotion without expecting anything in return, and completely surrendering to God, he/she will surely, without any doubt, very quickly progress (compared to eternity !) towards ever lasting joy and happiness (refer to verses 34 and 35 in chapter 6, and verses 7 and 8 in chapter 8 of Bhagavad Gita). Otherwise, one will be going through the countless miseries of rebirth, worries, anxieties, and pains of disease, old age and death, through thousands of lives. It is upto us. The destiny is in our hands.